One out of four people who visited this news site on those record-breaking three days tapped into the Starr report. Other popular sites included the Yahoo! directory, the Library of Congress legislative site known as THOMAS and Cable News Network Interactive. Net Ratings' latest survey also found that of the 18.5 million people using the Web on Saturday, about 1 million accessed the Starr report or related news and information.

More than the O.J. Simpson trial or the death of Princess Diana, the White House sex scandal is giving online folks a real chance to strut their stuff. From the very beginning, one of the promises of the Web has been its ability to take such a complicated, convoluted story and give it order and organization, without editorializing. Sometimes it works, sometimes it's like drinking from a firehose.

Nearly a week after the Starr report struck the Internet like a comet, it seems like a good time to visit several Web sites and see how they handled the deep impact.

One reason that MSNBC is the most popular site: It's the bomb. The graphics are enticing; the stories engaging. The site includes the Starr report, the White House response and an interactive guide to the scandal, including a detailed chronology.

You would think that Yahoo!, the Web's most-used Rolodex, would have figured out a grand and enticing way to display all of its information. Think again.

Finding full coverage of the investigation in this amazing and immense directory is more difficult than it should be. One of the best and fastest ways, believe it or not, is to search for the word "intern." Don't ask me why.

Starr's report also popped up on smaller, less-traveled sites. An anti-Clinton spot called Voice of America placed part of the report online coupled with the two White House rebuttals. The creator of the site calls the replies "pathetic," and adds, "As if the first 70+ pages of twisted truth wasn't enough, here is another 40+ pages of the same [expletive]. I will tell you this, this man and his staff take us, the American people for COMPLETE fools." This venom-filled site should not be confused with the Voice of America, the broadcast service of the U.S. Government, which also provides links to the Starr report.

In the way that Comedy Central poked fun at the State of the Union addresses awhile back, so the Web site of "Politically Incorrect," the ABC late-night chat show, sends up Starr's report. Earlier this week the joke of the day was: "On the Internet they are releasing Ken Starr's 500-page report. And I think that is dirty pool by Ken Starr, to release it on the Internet. Because Clinton's actions are going to be even more resented . . . by those people who get no sex at all."

Okay, so Bill Maher's not that funny. But neither is the Starr report, which is linked – along with the rebuttal – to the Politically Incorrect site. The site provides transcripts of recent shows. There are talking points buried in this site, however. Like when Helen Gurley Brown explains to Cindy Crawford why Monica Lewinsky is not a "Cosmopolitan" girl. "No real 'Cosmo' girl," Brown said, "would have a girlfriend like Linda Tripp."

Linton Weeks can be reached at weeksl@washpost.com

CLICK: Laundry: A Quantum Mechanical Approach   Quantum theory laid the groundwork for the theory of the Big Bang and the atomic bomb, but what does it say about missing socks? Physicist Brian J. Reardon shows how a quantum mechanical sock can be in the washing machine's agitation compartment, lint trap, or anywhere in between simultaneously. Opening the lid of the machine in mid-cycle may cause a sock to "tunnel" into the lint trap, making it seem to disapper. But the reverse also can occur. In other words, if you open and close your washer enough times, all those stinky, holey socks could end up back in your lap. – Dan Pacheco

Surfing Perturbations, pleasures and predicaments on the I-way

Rest in PC
Wonder where Jacob Dawson, the Titanic's engineer, is buried? Wyatt Earp? The Marx Brothers? Lewis and Clark? They're all here, along with 3,500 others whom you can search by name, location, and claim to fame. You can see where they are buried, get directions to the cemetery, and hold "reunions" (for example, of the 57 signers of the Declaration of Independence, or the gunfighters at the OK Corral). The site includes citations for folks who aren't dead and the resting places of famous animals.— Edward Mickolus

Straight Answers
As a straight mother of a grown daughter who is a lesbian, I have found the "Straight Answers" Web site helpful for straight people (friendly and unfriendly!). Though written mainly for gays, it advances the dialogue between straights and gays.

For example, a recent point of debate on the home page was "Can gay people seduce straight people?" A few levels down there is a top 10-list for dealing with social conservatives. (Point number one: "Remember; they're not evil," writes the Web site.)

I find "Straight Answers" particularly helpful because I often tend to feel some people who are anti-gay are just hostile and hopeless and not worth having any dialogue with. This Web site convinced me that not all people who are homophobic are completely intolerant. Through learning how to listen to their concerns and fears, sometimes it is possible to have a conversation. The site includes questions often asked of gay people with answers that are factual and non-threatening. — Colette Roberts